News

Ryan dream home at cut-price €32m

IT WAS valued at €80m when it was offered quietly for sale in 2009. Now the late Tony Ryan’s Lyons Demesne, the Ryanair founder’s grand Co Kildare estate, has had its price cut to €32m, representing the largest reduction ever recorded for an Irish property.

The price of the house has already been reduced once before, when it was cut from €80m to €50m in May 2010. It is being sold by Sherry FitzGerald and is being marketed internationally by Christie’s Great Estates. The house remains the most expensive on the market in Ireland.

Ryan bought the 600-acre estate in 1996 and lavished money on it until he died in October 2007, restoring the main house, replanting the formal gardens and introducing an equestrian centre. He reportedly spent €100m on the project.

Ryan bought the house from Michael Smurfit, the packaging tycoon, for just €4.4m. His transformation of the property,